


rough around the edges

by ahausonfire (thisiswherethefishlives)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Angst, Insecurity, Lack of Communication, M/M, Miscommunication, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-24
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-09-26 14:59:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9907802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisiswherethefishlives/pseuds/ahausonfire
Summary: “God, I hope he picks another school.”It’s a fucked up thing to think about another person. Really, Will knows that it’s fucked up, but you can’t help a first impression. You can’t contain it, you can’t mute it, and you can’t take it back. It’s part of the beauty of soulmates… at least, that’s how his mom always spun it. She’d tell him about how important it was to think the best in others, because you never know when you’ll find your first thoughts branded on another person’s skin.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this Anonymous Tumblr Prompt: Dexnursey soulmate au, where your first thoughts when you see your soulmate are printed on them(eg (cos idk if i explained properly)Person A thinks smth like Beautiful and thats on Person B)Dex realises first but is in denial but they do get together

_“God, I hope he picks another school.”_

It’s a fucked up thing to think about another person. Really, Will knows that it’s fucked up, but you can’t help a first impression. You can’t contain it, you can’t mute it, and you can’t take it back. It’s part of the beauty of soulmates… at least, that’s how his mom always spun it. She’d tell him about how important it was to think the best in others, because you never know when you’ll find your first thoughts branded on another person’s skin. _You never know_ , she’d always say, and _it’s more important to make impressions off who a person is than what they look like, Billy_ … but she’s always been more forgiving than Will. Less quick to judge, less quick to be on the offensive.

It’s part of why Will has always dreaded the idea of a soulmate.

He’s too rough for the romance of it all. Too abrasive, too cynical and harsh (too delicate - too sensitive - too aware of his funny ears and his freckled skin and his horrible everything). William Poindexter grew up knowing that the first impression he’d make on his soulmate would be “ _that’s a lot of freckles_ ”. The rounded script on the sole of his foot is a constant reminder of just how freckled he is.

Freckled enough where, when his soulmate finally meets him, it will be the only thing they see.

It’s not exactly a ringing endorsement.

It’s also the second most common first impression he makes (the first being “ _what an asshole_ ” - he’s taken polls, the data is sound), so it doesn’t help with narrowing down everyone else in the world from his soulmate. After all, he’s an asshole, and his soulmate will take one look at him and think the exact thing that 31% of new acquaintances think upon questioning. That he’s got a skin condition.

His soulmate is _boring_.

At least… that’s what Will thinks until he’s milling around with a group of prospective freshman, most of whom are stuffing their faces with mini-pies. There’s this one kid, gorgeous and way out of Will’s league, but it’s not his beauty that catches Will’s attention - no, it’s the wannabe hipster rich kid bullshit that’s oozing off of him (tailored, brand new jeans with tears on the knees, expensive sneakers that Will’s brother has been saving up for a year to buy, and a fucking tribal tattoo around his bicep (who the fuck gets a tribal tattoo these days anyways?)). He looks like everything that Will’s tried to avoid his entire life (and everything that Will’s ever wanted), and all Will can _think_ is _god, I hope he picks another school, because I really don’t need to add douchey tattooed hipsters to the list of guys I’d be down to fuck_. That’s the first real, rounded thought he gets before the kid turns his wannabe hipster rich kid attention on Will, giving him a once-over before offering to shake.

“Hey, man. I’m Derek. How chill are these _pies_?”

Later on, he’ll try to remember what he said back, but there will always be a hole in his memory.

A fractured piece out of time that he’ll never get back.

It’s an understandable loss though, because it’s only when the kid - _Derek_ \- reaches out to shake Will’s hand that Will gets a good look at the tattoo.

He wasn’t wrong with the earlier assessment that it was tribal… and douchey… but what he missed at first glance is that it was also built along the familiar scrawl of Will’s handwriting, where it clearly reads, _“God, I hope he picks another school.”_

It’s a fucked up thing to think about another person, but Will’s always been too rough.


	2. Chapter 2

It’s not love at first sight, but it’s pretty damn close. It’s just… _look_ , Dex is fucking hot, and maybe Derek didn’t _need_ a second glance before he was trying to map the constellations on Dex’s face with poetry and prose.

So, no. It didn’t take a second glance. Because Dex is hot and Derek’s not blind.

And, you know, maybe he’s worked up the concept of an abrasive soulmate into something romantic and poetic. Maybe he likes the fact that his love won’t be easy. That he’ll have to work for it.

Maybe he’s a little in love with the way that Dex shut him down within seconds of meeting on their campus tour. The way that they’ve never quite gelled despite their chemistry.

Will Poindexter is fire and ice. He’s long limbs and toned muscle and freckles and freckles and freckles. He’s his own person, unique amongst the social misfits and special snowflakes that have flocked to Samwell to find themselves. He’s kind of everything that Derek wants, and not for the first time, Derek wishes that soulmates weren’t a thing… because it gets in the way.

It’s like a shadow looming overhead. A promise for an inevitable something that may never come. And, _god_ , he hopes that his soulmate will come even as he wishes to be free of the pressure.

Because, if soulmates weren’t a thing, maybe he’d stand a chance with Dex.

Because, if the pressure wasn’t there to be perfect for each other, maybe his parents wouldn’t fight so often.

Because, as romantic as it is, maybe Derek could live without the knowledge that the first thing that will cross his soulmate’s mind when they meet is that they hope he’ll choose a different school.

And that… god, that could be anything.

That could be Rebbeca in pre-school who never warmed to him from the first day. Or it could be Luis, who was standoffish and hostile from the first time they met at the Andover open house. It could be anyone, really. Someone from the past, or the present, or the future.

Maybe he’s already made a shitty impression, and maybe it’s yet to come.

Until someone claims that thought as their own - the messy handwriting that wraps around his arm as their own - his _heart_ as their own… until then, he’s adrift.

Untethered.

Waiting.

He’s always hated waiting. He’s _always_ been impatient, reaching out for the things he wants.

But… Dex enters a room, and it’s like he’s forgotten what it is to want. It’s like he’s forgotten about soulmates and inevitability and first impressions.

Dex walks into a room and Derek knows what it is to need.

 


End file.
